Some stern words at half-time from Nottingham Forest Under-23s manager Gary Brazil had the desired effect in helping his side spring to life against Sheffield Wednesday, according to Toby Edser.

Forest had to settle for a point when the Owls scored in the 94th minute to salvage a 2-2 draw, but it was the manner of their poor first half performance that frustrated Brazil and his team of youngsters.

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Despite the game being finely balanced at the break without any score, the Reds had dominated much of the opening period at the City Ground without looking like scoring, and boss Brazil’s words certainly galvanised his charges in the second half, sparking a significant reaction.

Toby Edser was back in the side from the start against Sheffield Wednesday (Image: Mark Fear)

The home side fell behind to a James Murphy strike mid-way through the second half before two goals in three minutes from Virgil Gomis and Jayden Richardson saw Forest hit the front in the final 10 minutes; that was until Connor O’Grady levelled four minutes into added time, something that frustrated the highly-rated Reds midfielder.

“We’re disappointed as a group, we didn’t have the best of halves, but I thought we improved a lot in the second half, we got about them a lot more and didn’t let them play,” he told the Post.

Despite not performing to the levels they expect, earning a point when you’re not at your best against a strong Wednesday side isn’t such a bad thing, says the 18-year-old.

“I don’t think we played that well, as a trait to get a draw when you don’t play well is not always a bad thing, so we’ll take positives from it, but overall, we’re disappointed not to get the win," he said.

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“We were playing a lot in our own half, it’s alright playing good football but if you’re not doing it in their half then there’s no point. You’ve got to get the ball in their net at the end of the day.